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Moulting
moulting]] In biology, moulting or molting"Molting" vs. "moulting" – see spelling differences. , also known as sloughing, shedding, or for some species, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often but not always an outer layer or covering), either at specific times of year, or at specific points in its life cycle. Moulting can involve the epidermis (skin), pelage (hair, fur, wool), or other external layer. In some species, other body parts may be shed, for example, wings in some insects. Examples include old feathers in birds, old hairs in mammals (especially dogs and other canidae), old skin in reptiles, and the entire exoskeleton in arthropods. Examples Specific order notes Birds .]] In birds, moulting is the periodic replacement of feathers by shedding old feathers while producing new ones. Feathers are dead structures at maturity, and they become gradually worn down and need to be replaced. Adult birds moult at least once a year, though many moult twice, and a few three times. It is a comparatively slow process, as a bird never sheds all its feathers at once; it must keep enough of its feathers to regulate its body temperature and repel moisture. The amount of shed feathers varies. In some moulting periods, a bird may renew only the feathers on the head and body, shedding the wing and tail feathers during a later moulting period. Some species of wild bird become flightless during an annual "wing moult" and must seek protected habitat with a reliable food supply during that time. While plumage may look thin or uneven during moult, the general shape is maintained despite the loss of apparently many feathers; genuine bald spots are typically signs of unrelated illnesses, such as gross injuries, parasites, feather pecking (in commercial poultry), or (in pet birds) feather plucking. The process of moulting in birds is as follows: First, the bird begins to shed some old feathers, then pin feathers grow in to replace the old feathers. As the pin feathers become full feathers, other feathers are shed. This is a cyclical process that occurs in many phases. It is usually symmetrical, with feather loss equal on each side of the body. Because feathers make up 4–12% of a bird's body weight, it takes a large amount of energy to replace them. For this reason, moults are frequently timed to occur right after the breeding season, but while food is still abundant. The plumage produced during this time is called postnuptial plumage.Prenuptial moulting occurs in Red-collared Widowbirds where the males replace their nonbreeding plumage with breeding plumage. Forced moulting In some countries, flocks of layer hens are force moulted to reinvigorate egg-laying. This usually involves complete withdrawal of their food (and sometimes water) for 7–14 days or up to 28 days under experimental conditions which presumably reflect standard farming practice in some countries. This causes a body weight loss of 25 to 35%, which stimulates the hen to lose her feathers, but also reinvigorates egg-production. Some flocks may be force moulted several times. In 2003, more than 75% of all flocks were moulted in the US. Other methods of inducing a moult include low-density diets (e.g. grape pomace, cotton seed meal, alfalfa meal) or dietary manipulation to create an imbalance of a particular nutrient(s). The most important among these include manipulation of minerals including sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), iodine (I) and zinc (Zn), with full or partially reduced dietary intakes. Dogs Most dogs shed their fur twice a year, in the spring and fall, depending on breed, living environment, and temperature. The shedding of dogs is never called "moulting" in North America, but in other English-speaking countries, "moulting" is the exclusive term for this event - "shedding (hair)" means losing hair in the general sense, not seasonally. As dogs live with humans, the topic of dog shedding is of more immediate interest to the average pet owner than the shedding cycles of wild canidae. Wikipedia articles on individual dog breeds may contain more information on the moulting cycle of a particular breed. The following is a list of breeds that are alleged by a pet website to have little or no shedding, but no proof or research is cited. Such breeds are often claimed to be hypoallergenic, but relying on such information can prove dangerous to an allergic person.Denise Grady Nonallergenic Dog? Not Really, New York Times, February 5, 1997. Retrieved on 2011-12-10. The same pet website page from which the following list was obtained clearly states "All dogs shed".Dogs that do not shed – Retrieved September 7, 2008. Go Pets America (2010-07-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-10. Reptiles The most familiar example of moulting in reptiles is when snakes "shed their skin". This is usually achieved by the snake rubbing its head against a hard object, such as a rock (or between two rocks) or piece of wood, causing the already stretched skin to split. At this point, the snake continues to rub its skin on objects, causing the end nearest the head to peel back on itself, until the snake is able to crawl out of its skin, effectively turning the moulted skin inside-out. This is similar to how one might remove a sock from one's foot by grabbing the open end and pulling it over itself. The snake's skin is often left in one piece after the moulting process, including the discarded brille, so that the moult is vital for maintaining the animal's quality of vision. Conversely, the skins of lizards generally fall off in pieces. Amphibians Both frogs and salamanders moult regularly and consume the skin, with some species moulting in pieces and others in one piece. Arthropods In arthropods, such as insects, arachnids and crustaceans, moulting is the shedding of the exoskeleton (which is often called its shell), typically to let the organism grow. This process is called ecdysis. It is commonly said that ecdysis is necessary because the exoskeleton is rigid and cannot grow like skin, but this is simplistic, ignoring the fact that turtles do not shed even the rigid external keratinous shell, and that most Arthropoda with soft, flexible skins also undergo ecdysis. The subject is far more complex than a matter of skin rigidity; it includes considerations such as nature of metamorphosis, the differences between the morphology of successive instars, and the fact that a new skin includes new external lenses for eyes etc (compare this with the replacement of a snake's brille in sloughing). The new exoskeleton is initially soft but hardens after the moulting of the old exoskeleton. The old exoskeleton is referred to as "exuviae". Humans While humans do not strictly moult, an important part of the skin's defense against fungi is stratum corneum turnover that removes the microbes by shedding the old skin surface. This is increased by the immune system detection of dermatophytes (skin living fungi) such as Trichophyton rubrum. References }} External links * *Moulting in Chicken and other fowl Category:Developmental biology Category:Skin